Your Next Breath by Iris Johansen Read Free Book Online Page A

contacted you, not me.”
    “Because we were both in warrior mode trying to keep you alive.”
    “Really.” Erin’s brows lifted. “I suppose that was part of it. Try it. He might be willing to listen.”
    “I will.” She grimaced. “It would be pleasant if I could just pick up the phone and call the blasted man. But he probably wouldn’t answer his phone unless it suited him. And it wouldn’t suit him if he thought I’d be interfering in what he thinks is his business. I hate this psychic crap. I’ve told him I don’t want to deal with it.”
    “Evidently, you may have to.” She looked over her shoulder. “I think the surgeon is finished with Caudell. I’m going to go and get a report. I’ll call you later from the airport.” She disconnected, and the screen went blank.
    “I assume you are not going to Hong Kong,” Hu Chang said, as Catherine closed the computer. “And that Erin is not being cooperative and obeying you. Unfortunate, but I’ve always told you that you can’t run quite all the world to suit yourself.”
    “The pot calling the kettle,” she said through clenched teeth. “And I needed Erin to do just this one thing, so I could stop worrying about her ending up dead.” She added, “But she’s heading for the airport as soon as possible. So we have to make it as safe as we can. I’ll call Venable and have him assign an agent to her from the moment she leaves Chen Lu’s palace.”
    “A commercial flight is not wise. Have him get her passage on one of the military planes heading for the States,” Hu Chang said.
    Catherine nodded. “And then you meet her flight and find a way to keep her as far away from me as possible.”
    “Not an easy task.” He held up his hand as she started to protest. “But I’m superb at meeting challenges.” He turned and headed for the door. “However, I believe I will leave the challenge posed by Cameron in your hands. Unless he proves a danger to you. Then I’m at your service.”
    Cameron was dangerous but not to her, she thought as the door closed behind him. To her he’d been more troublesome than a danger. Though their encounters, admittedly, had an element of threat to both her physical and mental well-being. Their sexual chemistry was too raw and wild, and he had made her feel possessed, almost … weak. She had never felt like that with a man before. It was one of the reasons she had been glad Cameron had been called away and out of her life. Not that she wouldn’t have been able to handle it. It was just easier this way.
    But Cameron was back, and nothing was going to be easy.
    He was angry, Erin had said.
    So what? She didn’t need to worry about what he was feeling when her world was falling down around her.
    Screw you, Cameron.
    She punched in Venable’s number to try to set up a way to keep Erin safe from that disaster.
    *   *   *
    “Dammit, I’ll do everything I can,” Venable said sourly. “It’s not easy to get a civilian on a military flight at the last minute. Get her to stay with Chen Lu.”
    “That’s not going to happen. Keep her safe, Venable.” Catherine paused. “Or Cameron will do it. You don’t want him to intrude on your space. All your control will be out the window.”
    Silence. “Cameron is involved?”
    “You didn’t get Erin off that mountain without incident. You should have known he’d be upset.”
    “Ask me if I care. I’ve got more things to worry about than whether your old friend Cameron is going to get in my way. It may be time to take him down anyway. The only reason I haven’t done it yet is that his aims usually coordinate with the Company’s.”
    “And you’ve found him annoyingly ghostlike when he’s in action. Look, neither of us wants to have to deal with Cameron. So get Erin into the U.S. and keep her from being taken under Cameron’s protective, big-brother wing.”
    “It might be possible.” He knew damn well he’d do it, but he didn’t want Catherine calling the